NOT TODAY, SATAN: 71-year-old NYC woman fights off teen attackers on way to church service

71-year-old Linda Rosa had just exited the subway at Hoyt Street after 6 pm when four teenagers confronted her, trying to snatch her purse. “And then I [said to myself], ‘Oh, no, this is not going to happen today,’” Rosa explained to the New York Post.

Another teen tried to grab Rosa’s purse, taunting her, “Oh, you want to fight?” Rosa clung tightly to her belongings as another girl attempted to distract her. During the scuffle, one of the teens punched Rosa in the face, knocking her glasses to the ground and leaving a cut on her nose.

Despite the assault, Rosa held her ground. One of the teens ultimately snatched a small pocket pouch containing Rosa’s ID and medical records.

“I was still wrestling with the first person,” Rosa explained. “Then I was trying to kick her in between her legs, but my leg wouldn’t stretch far enough, so I believe that’s when I fell. I fell, and then she stomped on me.”

“I got an impression in me that she was going to stomp me again, but she was going to aim towards my head,” she continued. “So I got up right away, and with that, I grabbed her braids and twirled them around my right hand, and then I pulled her down. She had her head down. Then the other young lady said, ‘Let her go.’ And I said, ‘Oh, no, I’m not letting her go.’”

Rosa yelled out for help upon noticing the second teen tossed her pocket pouch to the ground and approached her once again. “So out of nowhere, I grabbed her hair and twisted it around my left hand,” Rosa said. “So I had them both facedown….[like] rams when they’re getting ready to fight.”

The other teens begged Rosa to release their friends as she yelled for help. After the struggle, the teens fled when Rosa started gathering her belongings and announced she was calling the police. Rosa made her way to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church, where staff called 911. She was later treated at The Brooklyn Hospital Center.

“Thank God they didn’t have no weapons,” she said. “I thank God I didn’t have a heart attack and a stroke and die!”

While the attackers remain at large, Rosa has already forgiven them. “I forgive them. They do not know what they do,” Rosa said. “They don’t know what they did. It’s just teenagers acting foolish.”